How to start playing

[mackem28]

As someone new to the game, I can't get to play without sitting around for ages waiting for Steam toupdate my account etc. etc. etc.

I'm sure there must be a way to play without this tedious delay. I am not looking to play the game online, I simply want to complete the story-line.

Can anyone help, please?

 

[Beerdude26]

It's actually for your own good. HL2 had LOADS of bugs and random crashes at its release. Almost all of those have now been fixed.

So either you go play with the chance of horrible fps, gameplay and loading times (sometimes up to 10 minutes), or you just wait a few hours and have fun then

 

[Kamikazie]

Mr.Beerdude speaks the truth!

 

[Beerdude26]

That's Sir Beerend for you :hmph:

 

[Kamikazie]

ahh, got me with my own quote...

Touché Sir Beerend

 

[ríomhaire]

It'll save you time in the end because it significantly decreases load times and plus Overwatch nade more with it.

 

[mackem28]

OK guys - thanks for the prompt response.

 

[hungryduck]

let steam do its thing, and you shall surely sing
um,
with joy.

 

[mackem28]

It sits there - Preparing to launch Half-Life 2...

 

[AJ Rimmer]

It sits there - Preparing to launch Half-Life 2...

It needs some time to prepare to prepare to launch Half-life 2.

 

[mackem28]

I'm on 1 hour preparation now - hope the game moves a little quicker - lol

 

[ríomhaire]

Close your browser, MSN etc so steam can use all of your connection.

 

[mackem28]

3 hours and still waiting. I must be crazy

 

[CyberPitz]

3 hours and still waiting. I must be crazy

You crazy man!

Just let it go, sleep or something

 

[ríomhaire]

I feel your pain. I am also one of the 3 people with HL2 and a dial up.

 

[Thruster1]

The Vortigaunt HQ - heh - that made me laugh . . .

 

[mackem28]

3g processor - 1g ddr - 2.2mB broadband - I think this is bloody ridiculous - I only want to play the game, not buy the company.

 

[Thruster1]

Sometimes I get a crash to desktop error when launching HL2 - but if I restart steam and hit it again, it works.

 

[mackem28]

After 4 hours of 'Preparing to start' I am finally in (Never had this kind of wait for any game I played) - I hope it proves worth the wait.

 

[StAtiC]

Yeah, its worth it in the end... unless you want to hear the most ridiculous crackling noise everytime you fire a gun or hear somone speak.

 

[Hectic Glenn]

Your waiting times are ridiculous, lets be honest people, i don't know anyone who has to wait that long on a broadband connections with your specifications. Something is wrong there. Have a look around for the link to 'validate HL2 files' you may have a problem with them. Also delete a file in your steam directory called clientregistry.blob, steam will make a new one when it starts again. Let me know if those fix anything, if not a reinstall of steam itself might be an idea.

Your patience with the game made me smile, i like patient people. Good luck with those pointers, i think you've got a problem, i hope it hasn't tainted HL2 for you.

 

[diluted]

With the retail version, there should be an option to just install, validate, and play without checking for updates. Would keep the 56k'ers happy. But there isn't such an option, so meh.

 

[Xaxor]

I would bet defragging the HD would help a great deal. Cleaning up the HD of useless programs would be good too, since a HD with less than 20% free is painfully slow. And maybe, just maybe, you should get a program like Spybot Search & Destroy and clean out all of the spyware you may have. Those are the only things I can think of that could cause such slowness.